My 12 year old son, Brandon had a writting assignment today entitled "My Christian Testimony".
I would like to share some of it with you.
My Lord Jesus is faithful. He sees me through all life, gives me all I need, and gives me life. I have to give a sacrifice to Him to have all those things. I give my soul to Him, so He has one more soul to write in His Book of Life. I give Him all I have. I come to the cross with only my soul and my humility. And, even though I have sinned against God and should be given death, He forgives me, takes all my sis away, and makes me one of His children. God is an Awesome God.
I am a Christian, yes. I try to be Christ-like. I remember that Jesus is my gateway to heaven and eternal life. I konw my God is faithful, and He will always look over me. I know it is hard to live in this world, but I keep my eyes on Jesus. But most importantly, I will praise my God through bad times, and good times, for all eternity. God is a powerful God, and I know this. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
Makes this Momma's heart proud to see how the Lord is working in my children's lives. I will agree with Brandon, Blessed be the name of the Lord forever!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Yet Another Setback
Well the agency we had chosen to use to help us adopt from Ethiopia informed us yesterday that they no longer have an Ethiopian program. At least we'll get our money back. Our second choice is no longer accepting applications for children under 3. The other agencies
i've looked at have significantly higher fees. Yet another setback in a long line of setbacks over the past 6 years. God, what do we do now?
Blessings,
Melissa
i've looked at have significantly higher fees. Yet another setback in a long line of setbacks over the past 6 years. God, what do we do now?
Blessings,
Melissa
Monday, March 12, 2012
Abdominal Migraines
Our youngest son, Brandon, has been suffering from wierd episodes of nausea and stomach cramps for about 2 years. I finally took him to the doctor today to have him checked out. Turns out he has abdominal migraines. I have had regular migraines in the past, but had never heard of this before. Abdominal migraines are related to regular migraines, but the pain is in the stomach. We looked it up on the internet and Brandon has a textbook case. He has all the symptoms they mentioned. It also said that it could turn into regular migraines when he is an adult. The doctor gave us a worksheet to fill out when he has an episode to try and determine what his triggers are.
At least we finally know what is going on. We also found out that my nephew has this. I never knew that. Brandon was glad to hear it because now he's not the only one he knows who has it.Please pray for my little boy that these episodes will be few and far between.
Blessings,
Melissa
Saturday, March 10, 2012
God's Design for Families
As I have mentioned in other posts, we are raising our Granddaughter, Desiree, aka the princess. Today was her visitation day with her Dad, Mike. When she woke up this morning I told her that today was Saturday. She started to squeal and said " Daddy get you!" I said " Yes, Daddy is coming to get you." She enjoys spending time with him. To her it's like going to see a fun uncle. David and I have taken on the parenting role with all of the responsibility and disipline that comes with it. And her parents are the ones she visits and has fun with.
Well this morning when Mike got here, Desiree was excited at first as usual. But when Mike started to take her out to the car, her lips puckered and her eyes filled with tears. She was trying not to cry. I just smiled and told her that she was going to have fun and we would see her tomorrow. But my heart was breaking. I know she will be fine. It's just the transition of going from one house to another and from one family style to another. It's hard on her. But this is the best situation we can come up with. She has a permanent, stable home with us and she still gets to know her parents.
Blessings,
Melissa
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Post-birth abortion= murder
I read something the other day that really upset me. Two "scientists" in Austailia have written a paper saying that Post birth abortion is ok. They say that a newborn has no moral right to live because it has not made any contributions to society. The parents or society determines whether the child has a right to live or not. The Romans did this as did the Spartans before them. If a child was deemed unworthy, they were left on a hillside to die or be eaten by predators. In Roman times, Christians would frequent these places and take those children left to die and raise them as their own.
The one point that these scientists made that I agree with is that there is no difference in aborting a fetus and aborting a newborn. Both of these are WRONG! This is the natural progression of the abortion mentality. If it's ok to kill a baby 2 minutes before birth than it's ok to kill it 2 minutes after birth, afterall not much has changed except location.
What really shocked me was to learn that this is practiced in the Netherlands right now! How can a civilized society kill the most innocent of it's citizenry? These are living, breathing human beings.
How this must hurt God's heart. He calls children a gift, a blessing from Him. How can we just throw these gifts away? How far we have sunk.
Blessings,
Melissa
The one point that these scientists made that I agree with is that there is no difference in aborting a fetus and aborting a newborn. Both of these are WRONG! This is the natural progression of the abortion mentality. If it's ok to kill a baby 2 minutes before birth than it's ok to kill it 2 minutes after birth, afterall not much has changed except location.
What really shocked me was to learn that this is practiced in the Netherlands right now! How can a civilized society kill the most innocent of it's citizenry? These are living, breathing human beings.
How this must hurt God's heart. He calls children a gift, a blessing from Him. How can we just throw these gifts away? How far we have sunk.
Blessings,
Melissa
Friday, March 2, 2012
Fundraiser
We are selling t-shirts as a fundraiser for our adoption. Scroll down on the left of the blog and you;ll find it. All you have to do is click on the link and purchase a shirt(if you so chose). Thank you so much and please spread the word. The more people who hear about it the more shirts we can sell, hopefully!
Blessings,
Melissa and David
Blessings,
Melissa and David
Thursday, March 1, 2012
I feel like Jonah
Ok so we all remember the story of Jonah right? God told him to go to Nineveh, but Jonah got scared and went to Tarshish instead. Jonah decided to follow his own plan and nothing worked out for him. When he finally came to his senses and did what God had told him to do in the first place then everything worked out.
Well, I'm Jonah. As I said before, after our third child was born I immediately felt the urge to adopt. My husband, however did not. I prayed for 6 years before God changed David's heart. When David finally agreed to adopt, I felt drawn to Africa right away, but we were both frieghtened by the cost. So we thought we would adopt from foster care. After all there were a lot of children in need of families and it wouldn't cost much, only a nominal fee. We were being financially responsible and doing a good thing. What could be wrong with that? We waited 2 years and never had a placement. Many people I talk to can't believe we waited 2 years and never had a placement from foster care. But it wasn't God's plan.
So after 2 years, we decided to try a private agency for a domestic infant adoption. We found an agency that had reduced fees. I still felt the pull toward Africa, but didn't think we could afford it. I mean $7 to $10 thousand was alot but it seemed doable compared with $25 to $30 thousand. When we began the process we didn't have any money, but in just a few months God had provided the money we needed. I felt optomistic and so we waited to be chosen by a birth mother. And we waited, and waited, and waited for 2 and a half years. Finally we were told by our case worker that we should try other agencies. I was despondent.
I began to feel that old familiar tug in my heart for Africa. Soon afterward it seemed like I was seeing stories of couples adopting from Ethiopia everywhere. Many of the couples had the same fears as I did about the cost but God always provided what they needed when they needed it. So I began doing some research on qualifications to adopt from Ethiopia as well as other places. The only place we qualified for was Ethiopia. All other doors were closing for us. I prayed and prayed and prayed. Was this what God wanted for us? After several months I became convinced that this is what we were supposed to do. When David and I talked about it he was not sure. I have a friend who once told me that God prepares the wifes heart first so that when her husband is ready she will be too. Finally a few weeks ago David's heart changed. We are going to do what God told us to do 6 years ago.
We have about half of the money we need but we are going to trust God to provide the rest. After all if He has called us, then He will provide a way. I am still scared, but this Jonah is going to her Nineveh.
Blessings,
Melissa
Well, I'm Jonah. As I said before, after our third child was born I immediately felt the urge to adopt. My husband, however did not. I prayed for 6 years before God changed David's heart. When David finally agreed to adopt, I felt drawn to Africa right away, but we were both frieghtened by the cost. So we thought we would adopt from foster care. After all there were a lot of children in need of families and it wouldn't cost much, only a nominal fee. We were being financially responsible and doing a good thing. What could be wrong with that? We waited 2 years and never had a placement. Many people I talk to can't believe we waited 2 years and never had a placement from foster care. But it wasn't God's plan.
So after 2 years, we decided to try a private agency for a domestic infant adoption. We found an agency that had reduced fees. I still felt the pull toward Africa, but didn't think we could afford it. I mean $7 to $10 thousand was alot but it seemed doable compared with $25 to $30 thousand. When we began the process we didn't have any money, but in just a few months God had provided the money we needed. I felt optomistic and so we waited to be chosen by a birth mother. And we waited, and waited, and waited for 2 and a half years. Finally we were told by our case worker that we should try other agencies. I was despondent.
I began to feel that old familiar tug in my heart for Africa. Soon afterward it seemed like I was seeing stories of couples adopting from Ethiopia everywhere. Many of the couples had the same fears as I did about the cost but God always provided what they needed when they needed it. So I began doing some research on qualifications to adopt from Ethiopia as well as other places. The only place we qualified for was Ethiopia. All other doors were closing for us. I prayed and prayed and prayed. Was this what God wanted for us? After several months I became convinced that this is what we were supposed to do. When David and I talked about it he was not sure. I have a friend who once told me that God prepares the wifes heart first so that when her husband is ready she will be too. Finally a few weeks ago David's heart changed. We are going to do what God told us to do 6 years ago.
We have about half of the money we need but we are going to trust God to provide the rest. After all if He has called us, then He will provide a way. I am still scared, but this Jonah is going to her Nineveh.
Blessings,
Melissa
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